Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 189. “(Petty-Fitzmaurice, Landsowne, M/PB) The once-magnificent seat of the Fitzmaurices, earls of Kerry, an old castle much enlarged C18 with fine gardens. By the beginning of C19, Castle was decayed, by 1837, in ruins. Now, only a few shapeless walls remain.”
William Fitzmaurice (1694-1747), 2nd earl and 21st Baron of Kerry by Stephen Slaughter, courtesy of The Irish Sale by Sotheby’s May 18, 2001.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 82. “An old castle, enlarged in the 18C. The former seat of the Fitzmaurices, Earls of Kerry. In ruins by 1837, little remains.”
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry – Destroyed by IRA by fire in 1922.
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry entrance front, photograph: c. 1870, collection: Col. Talbot Crosbie, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 8. “Crosbie/IFR) A house originally built towards the end of C17 by Sir Thomas Crosbie, MP; “modernized” 1720 by Maurice Crosbie, 1st Lord Brandon, and again altered ca 1830, though keeping its original character. Two-storey main block with seven-bay front, the two outer bays on either side breaking forwards and framed by quoins; a pedimented centre, in which a single triple window was substituted at some period – presumably during the alterations of ca 1830 – for the three first floor bays. Plain rectangular doorcase; and a high eaved roof on a modillion cornice.
“The front was elongated by lower two-storey wings which protruded forwards at right angles to it, thus forming an open forecourt, then turned outwrds and extended for a considerable way on either side. Irregular wing at back of house.
“Inside the house, the panelled hall was decorated with figures painted in monochrome on panels. There was an early 18th century staircase and gallery; Corinthian newels, and more panelling on the landing with Corinthian pilasters; modillion cornice. A large drawing-room boasted compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling. Here there was a full-length Reynolds portrait of Lady Glandore. Caryatid chimneypiece in one room.
“The gardens had an early formal layout: sunken parterre; yew alleys; trees cut into an arcade; avenues of beech, lime and elm. A ruined Franciscan friary was in the grounds.
“The mansion was burnt to the ground by the IRA ca 1922, and all that remains are some relics of the formal garden.
“Ardfert eventually passed to Rev John Talbot (see Mount Talbot), son of 2nd Earl of Glandore’s sister, who assumed the additional surname of Crosbie. It was sold in the present century by J.B. Talbot-Crosbie. Nothing now remains of the house, but there are still some relics of the formal garden.”
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry, drawing room, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.Theodosia Bligh (1722-1777), Countess of Glandore, attributed to James Latham, courtesy of Adam’s 5 Oct 2010.
Featured in Mark Bence-Jones, Mark Bence Jones, Life in an Irish Country House. Constable, London. 1996.
“Built for Sir Thomas Crosbie, MP, built himself a house a few miles inland from the North Kerry coast at Ardfert, of which his grandfather John Crosbie had been Bishop. The Crosbies were descended from the O’More’s of Laois, their surname was originally “MacCrossan,” meaning “son of the rhymer” – were granted lands in North Kerry by Queen Elizabeth i. Sir Thomas Crosbie’s house, which was improved by his grandson Sir Maurice Crosbie in 1720, was very much of its time….A ruined Franciscan friary in the grounds caused the house to be known eventually as Ardfert Abbey.
THE EARLS OF GLANDORE OWNED 9,913 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY KERRY
This family came into Ireland during the reign of ELIZABETH I when one of the house of CROSBIE, of Great Crosby, in Lancashire, left two sons, Patrick and John.
PATRICK CROSBIE, the elder son, obtained a considerable landed property, and was succeeded by his son,
PIERS CROSBIE (1590-1646), who incurred the resentment of the great Earl of Strafford, for opposing in parliament his violent measures, which obliged him to quit the kingdom, when a second prosecution was carried on against him by the Star Chamber, in England, which ended in his confinement in the Fleet, from whence he escaped beyond seas, and continued abroad until Lord Strafford’s trial, when he became, in his turn, evidence against him.
He is said to have been created a baronet by JAMES I, and was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber to CHARLES I, and a Lord of the Privy Council.
Sir Piers died without issue, and bequeathed his estates to his cousins, Walter and David Crosbie.
THE RT REV JOHN CROSBIE, his uncle, Lord Bishop of Ardfert, appointed to that see in 1601, married Winifred, daughter of O’Lalor, of the Queen’s County, and had, with four daughters, six sons,
WALTER (Sir), 1st Baronet; DAVID, ancestor of the EARLS OF GLANDORE; John (Sir), of Tullyglass, Co Down; Patrick; William; Richard.
The Queen’s letter to Lord Deputy Mountjoy, dated from the manor of Oatland, 1601, directing his appointment to the see of Ardfert, describes the Bishop as
“a graduate in schools, of the English race, skilled in the English tongue, and well disposed in religion.”
He was prebendary of Dysart in the diocese of Limerick.
His lordship’s second son,
DAVID CROSBIE, Colonel in the army, Governor of Kerry, 1641, stood a siege in Ballingarry Castle for more than twelve months.
He was afterwards governor of Kinsale for CHARLES I.
In 1646, Colonel Crosbie inherited a portion of the estate of his cousin, Sir Piers Crosbie, son of Patrick Crosbie, who had been granted a large portion of The O’More’s estate in Leix.
He married a daughter of the Rt Rev John Steere, Lord Bishop of Ardfert, and had, with four daughters, two sons,
THOMAS (Sir), his heir; Patrick, of Tubrid, Co Kerry.
Colonel Crosbie died in 1658, and was succeeded by his elder son,
SIR THOMAS CROSBIE, Knight, of Ardfert, High Sheriff of Kerry, 1668, knighted by James, Duke of Ormonde, in consideration of the loyalty of his family during the Usurper’s rebellion.
Sir Thomas, MP for County Kerry in the parliament held at Dublin by JAMES II, 1688, refused to take the oath of allegiance to WILLIAM III.
He married firstly, Bridget, daughter of Thomas Tynte, of County Cork, and had issue,
DAVID, father of 1st and 2nd Barons Brandon; William; Patrick; Walter; Sarah; Bridget.
Sir Thomas wedded secondly, Ellen, daughter of Garrett FitzGerald, of Ballynard, County Limerick, by whom he had no issue; and thirdly, in 1680, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of William Hamilton, of Liscloony, King’s County, by whom he had a daughter, Ann, living in 1694, and (with a daughter) four sons,
THOMAS; John; Pierce; Charles; Ann.
Sir Thomas’s eldest son,
DAVID CROSBIE, of Ardfert, wedded Jane, younger daughter and co-heir to William Hamilton.
He died in 1717, and was succeeded by his heir,
SIR MAURICE CROSBIE (1690-1762), Knight, of Ardfert, who married the Lady Elizabeth Anne FitzMaurice, eldest daughter of Thomas, Earl of Kerry.
Sir Maurice, MP for County Kerry, 1713-58, was elevated to the peerage, on his retirement, by the title Baron Brandon, of Brandon, County Kerry.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
WILLIAM, 2nd Baron (1716-81), MP for Ardfert, 1735-62, who was created a viscount, in 1771, as Viscount Crosbie, of Ardfert, County Kerry.
His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1776, as EARL OF GLANDORE.
His lordship married firstly, in 1745, Lady Theodosia Bligh, daughter of John, Earl of Darnley; and secondly, in 1777, Jane, daughter of Edward Vesey.
He was succeeded by his only surviving son,
JOHN, 2nd Earl (1753-1815), PC, MP for Athboy, 1775.
He chose to sit for the latter, and held the seat until 1781, when he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the Irish House of Lords. He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1785.
In 1789, he was appointed Joint Master of the Rolls in Ireland alongside the Earl of Carysfort; was married in London, in 1771, by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Hon Diana, daughter of George, 1st Viscount Sackville. The marriage was childless.
The earldom and viscountcy expired on his death; the barony, however, reverted to his lordship’s cousin,
THE REV DR WILLIAM CROSBIE (1771-1832), 4th Baron, son of the Very Rev the Hon Maurice Crosbie, Dean of Limerick, younger son of the 1st Baron.
His lordship wedded, in 1815, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of David La Touche, of Upton, by whom he had a daughter,
THE HON ELIZABETH CECILIA CROSBIE, who married, in 1837, Henry Galgacus Redhead Yorke MP.
The 4th Baron served as rector of Castle Island in County Kerry.
On his death, in 1832, the title expired.
ARDFERT ABBEY, Ardfert, County Kerry, was a mansion originally built at the end of the 17th century by Sir Thomas Crosbie.
It was renovated in 1720 by Sir Maurice Crosbie (afterwards 1st Lord Brandon), and further altered about 1830.
The house comprised a two-storey block with seven-bay front, the two outer bays on either side breaking forwards and framed by quoins.
There was a pedimented centre; plain recangular doorcase; and a high, eaved roof on a modillion cornice.
The front was elongated by lower two-storey wings which protruded forwards at right angles to it, thus forming an open forecourt.
Inside the house, the panelled hall was decorated with figures painted in monochrome on panels.
There was an early 18th century staircase and gallery; Corintian newels, and more panelling on the landing.
A large drawing-room boasted compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling.
Here there was a full-length Reynolds portrait of Lady Glandore.
The gardens had an early formal layout: sunken parterre; yew alleys; trees cut into an arcade; avenues of beech, lime and elm.
A ruined Franciscan friary was in the grounds.
The mansion was burnt to the ground by the IRA ca 1922, and all that remains are some relics of the formal garden.
Ardfert Abbey (or House)eventually passed to the 2nd Earl of Glandore’s sister, the Lady Anne Crosbie, who married William John Talbot in 1775.
Her eldest son,
The Rev John Talbot-Crosbie MA, of Ardfert House, married Jane, daughter of Colonel Thomas Lloyd, in 1811; was MP for Ardfert, prior to taking Holy Orders.
In 1816, his name was legally changed to John Talbot-Crosbie.
He died in 1818.
His eldest son,
William Talbot Talbot-Crosbie JP DL (1817-99), of Ardfert House, High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1848.
He married firstly, Susan Anne, daughter of Hon Lindsey Merrick Peter Burrell, in 1839. He married secondly, Emma, daughter of Hon Lindsey Merrick Peter Burrell, in 1853. He married thirdly, Mary Jane, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir Henry Torrens, in 1868 at Edinburgh. In 1880, his name was legally changed to William Talbot Talbot-Crosbie.
His youngest son,
Lindsey Bertie Talbot-Crosbie JP DL (1844-1913), married Anne Crosbie, daughter of Colonel Edward Thomas Coke and Diana Talbot-Crosbie, in 1871; Lieutenant, RN; High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1903. His 2nd son,
John Burrell Talbot-Crosbie (1873-1969), of Ardfert House, married Mary, daughter of Gilbert Leitch, in 1910.
The marriage was childless.
Mr Talbot-Crosbie sold Ardfert House (the garden gates being re-erected outside the parish church in Tralee as a memorial to the Crosbie family).
It stood close to Ardfert Village, next to Ardfert Friary with extensive surrounding grounds.
The house was evacuated by the Crosbies and most of its furniture and belongings removed prior to it being burned by the IRA in August, 1922.
Article from a publication written thereafter: The Lord Danesfort:
“May I give two illustrations of damage to property since the truce, and of the manner in which it has been treated? I take the case of Mr. Talbot-Crosby, and I mention his name because his case was fully reported in the Cork newspapers of May last.
What happened was this. His house, Ardfert Abbey, was burnt to the ground at the end of 1922, or the beginning of 1923. In May, 1924, his case came before the County Court Judge. It was, I venture to think, a most astounding case.
It was admitted that if, at or shortly before the time when the house was burnt, Mr. Talbot Crosby had been in residence, he would have been entitled, I think, to a sum of something like £21,000 compensation.
But the counsel or solicitor who appeared for the Free State at that hearing raised this extraordinary defence. He pointed to a section in the Act of 1923 to the effect that if the house was not at the time of the damage maintained as a residence by the applicant, the applicant should only get what they called market value.
Then he went on to argue that Mr. Talbot Crosby had been driven out of his house by threats of violence some few months before; therefore, his compensation, which would otherwise be £21,000, should be reduced to £2,250.
Did ever such a travesty of justice come before the Court of any civilised country in the world?
It comes to this, that if there is a ruffianly body in Ireland desirous of getting rid of a man, turning him out of his house and country and destroying his property, all it has to do is to terrorise him, shoot at him, turn him out of Ireland, and having allowed a few weeks, or whatever time this Court thinks necessary, to elapse after he has left Ireland, then to burn his house down and otherwise destroy his property.
Then, when he comes to ask for compensation, he only gets one-tenth of what he would otherwise receive. I hope the noble Lord will see the gravity of a ease of that sort. I have already given him particulars of it, and I trust he has applied to the Free State and is able to give me the explanation that they offer.”
Former Dublin residence ~ Fitzwilliam Square.
First published in August, 2013. Glandore arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
The Glandore Gate, which once marked the main entrance to the Ardfert Abbey estate in County Kerry. Of limestone ashlar and flanked by battlemented walls, with a two-bay single-storey flat-roofed Gothic…
Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, marking the country’s ten years of transformation 1913-23 is now drawing to a close, but there are still opportunities for analysis and reflection about what happened during that period. On Saturday, October 7th the Irish Aesthete will be participating in County Tipperary’s annual Dromineer Nenagh Literary Festival (celebrating its own 20th anniversary), in conversation with poet Vona Groarke about some of the great houses which were burnt in the early 1920s, many of them never rebuilt and lost forever. One such was Ardfert, County Kerry, set on fire in August 1922. The photographs above show the building before and after the conflagration, while those below are images of the interior, including the panelled hall with its classical grisaille figures, and the splendid main staircase, all lost in that fire, after which the house was pulled down so that nothing survives as a memory of its existence….
Fee: adult €12, child €6, family ticket €45 (2 adults & all accompanying children under18) season tickets from €40 Concession discounts available for large groups
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
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We visited County Kerry at the end of March 2023, when few other Revenue Section 482 properties are open. I didn’t stop to think, however, that it might not be the best time to see the gardens of Kerry in their best state! However, some trees were in bloom, while others had dropped their blossoms.
Derreen is famous for its collection of rhododendrons and some of the Arboretum rhododendrons planted in the 1870s by the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne have grown to a size rarely seen elsewhere.
The house at Derreen is not on the Section 482 scheme, just the surrounding gardens. Derreen takes its name from the woods around it, as it means “little oak wood” in Gaelic. The gardens cover an area of 60 acres and include nearly eight miles of paths, which wind through mature and varied woodland, a garden laid out 150 years ago with subtropical plants from around the world and views of the sea and mountains.
In 1657 the area was granted to William Petty (1623-1687), physician of Oliver Cromwell. In 1664, Petty undertook the survey of Ireland and by 1666 he had completed the measurement of 2,008,000 acres of forfeited land, for which, by contract, he was to receive one penny per acre. He also acquired an estate of £6,000 a year. [1] He received the baronies of Iveragh, Glanarought and Dunkerron in County Kerry as well as land in Counties Meath, Cork, Limerick and Offaly. These Kerry lands contained resources such as pearls in the river, silver in the mountains, and forest. He experimented, unsuccessfully, with iron making. There was already an iron-work in nearby Kenmare.
William Petty (1623-1687) by Isaac Fuller circa 1651, National Portrait Gallery of London ref. 2924.Down Survey of Ireland information board in Ardgillan Castle, Dublin.Down Survey of Ireland information board in Ardgillan Castle, Dublin.
He married Elizabeth Waller (1636-1708), who had been previously married to Michael Fenton of Mitchellstown in County Cork.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that from 1659 Petty divided his time between London and Dublin and that, despite some London properties, Ireland supplied the bulk of his wealth.
In 1684 the Dublin Philosophical Society was founded and Petty was elected as its first president.
William Petty died of gangrene in his foot in 1687. He had refused a peerage, but after he died, Elizabeth née Waller was created Baroness Shelburne in her own right by King James II, in 1688. On the same day her eldest son by William Petty, Charles Petty (1672-1696), became Baron Shelburne.
Charles Baron Shelburne married Mary Williams (d.1710) but they had no children. After he died, she married Lt.-Gen. Henry Conyngham (d. 1705/6) of Mountcharles County Donegal and of Slane Castle in County Meath (another Section 482 property and the first one we visited when I undertook this project! See my entry).
William Petty and Elizabeth née Waller’s second son, Henry (1675-1751) was created Viscount Dunkerrin and Earl of Shelburne in the Irish Peerage. He married Arabella Boyle (d. 1740) daughter of Charles Boyle, 2nd Baron Clifford of Lanesborough, County York in England and 3rd Viscount Dungarvan, County Waterford. They had no sons but a daughter, Anne Fitzmaurice Petty. She married Francis Bernard (1698-1793) of Castle Bernard, County Cork (now an impressive ruin).
Castle Bernard ruins in County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Since Henry Petty 1st Earl of Shelburne had a daughter but no sons his estates passed to his nephew John Fitzmaurice who changed his surname to Petty. The earldom of Shelburne was revived for John in 1753.
A sketch of Henry Petty (1675-1751) Earl of Shelburne by George Townshend, 4th Viscount and 1st Marquess Townshend National Portrait Gallery of London ref. 4855(15)
William Petty and Elizabeth née Waller’s daughter Anne (1671-1737) married Thomas Fitzmaurice (1668-1741), 21st Baron of Kerry, who became 1st Earl of Kerry. He was MP for County Kerry and a Privy Counsellor in Ireland. At the same time as being created Earl of Kerry in January 1722/23, he was created 1st Viscount Clanmaurice.
His grandson, the Marquess of Lansdowne, wrote of him, “my grandfather did not want the manners of the country nor the habits of his family to make him a tyrant. He was so by nature. He was the most severe character which can be imagined, obstinate and inflexible; he had not much understanding, but strong nerves and great perseverance, and no education, except what he had in the army, where he served in his youth, with a good degree of reputation for personal bravery and activity. He was a handsome man and, luckily for me and mine, married a very ugly woman, who brought into his family whatever degree of sense may have appeared in it, or whatever wealth is likely to remain in it, the daughter of Sir William Petty… With all this he had high principles of honour and a strict love of justice, which made him govern the country better than he did his own family… His children did not love him, but dreaded him; his servants the same.” [2]
The Landed Estates Database tells us the 1st Earl of Kerry had two younger brothers, William of Gallane, County Kerry, ancestor of the Fitzmaurices of Springfield Castle, County Limerick and John who had an only child Anne who married her cousin of Springfield Castle (you can rent the castle, see my Places to Visit and Stay in County Limerick entry. [3]
The property passed through the family of the Marquesses of Lansdowne. Timothy William Ferres tells us that the Marquesses of Lansdowne owned the greatest amount of land in Kerry, more than any other landowners in Kerry, with 94,983 acres. [see 1]
The 1st Earl’s daughter Elizabeth Anne (d. 1757) married Maurice Crosbie, 1st Baron Branden (circa 1689-1762). His daughter Arabella married Colonel Arthur Denny (d. 1742), MP and High Sheriff of County Kerry. Another daughter, Charlotte (d. 1774), married John Conway Colthurst (1722-1775) 1st Bt. of Ardrum, County Cork.
The 1st Earl’s eldest son, William Fitzmaurice (1694-1747) held the offices of Lord-Lieutenant of County Kerry and Custos Rotulorum of County Kerry, Governor for the county and Privy Counsellor. He married Elizabeth Moss but they had no children and she died and he subsequently married Gertrude Lambart in 1738, daughter of Richard Lambart (d. 1741) 4th Earl of County Cavan and 4th Viscount Kilcoursie, in the King’s County.
Their daughter Anna Maria FitzMaurice (d. 1808) married Maurice Fitzgerald (d. 1780) 16th Knight of Kerry.
William and Gertrude’s son Francis Thomas FitzMaurice became 3rd Earl of Kerry after his father died in 1747. Horace Walpole described him as “a simple young Irish Peer, who had married an elderly Irishwoman that had been divorced on his account, and had wasted a vast estate in the idlest ostentation.” [see 2] This elderly Irishwoman was Anastasia Daly (d. 1799 and buried in Westminster Abbey!), she was daughter of Peter Daly and had been married to Charles Daly of County Galway and she obtained a divorce from him in 1768 by an Act of Parliament.
The Marquess of Lansdowne wrote that “the present Lord Kerry, after being educated under the direction of the Chancellor of Ireland, and being left a good deal to himself, fell in love with a married lady twenty years older than himself, the daughter of an eminent Roman Catholic lawyer, and, obtaining a divorce, married her—an extraordinary vain woman. Having their way to fight up to get into good company, and having no posterity, they sold every acre of land which had been in our family since Henry the Second’s time.” [see 1]
The Landed Estates Database tells us:
“Francis, the 3rd Earl of Kerry was mostly an absentee landlord, his estates being administered by agents including Christopher Julian. Dickson writes that he sold much of his Kerry estates to Richard Hare in the 1780s. With his death in 1818 the connection between the Earls of Kerry and Lixnaw came to an end. The title was inherited by the Marquis of Lansdowne of Derreen, county Kerry who owned 1,526 acres in county Limerick in the 1870s.”
The 3rd Earl of Kerry and his wife had no son. The 1st Earl of Kerry and his wife Anne née Petty had a second son, John (1706-1761). It was this son who is mentioned above, who became the heir of his uncle Henry Petty 1st Earl of Shelburne, and he changed his surname to Petty in 1751. That year, he was created 1st Baron Dunkeron and 1st Viscount FitzMaurice.He held the office of Sheriff of County Kerry in 1732 and was a Whig MP for County Kerry from 1743-1751. He was created 1st Earl of Shelburne, County Wexford in 1753. He was Governor of County Kerry and a Privy Counsellor. Between 1754 and 1760 he was MP in England for Chipping Wycombe, County Buckinghamshire and in 1760 he was created was created 1st Lord Wycombe, Baron of Chipping Wycombe [Great Britain].
In 1734 he married his first cousin Mary Fitzmaurice, granddaughter of William Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw, daughter of William of Gullane, a brother of the 1st Earl of Kerry.
John Petty and his wife Mary née Fitzmaurice had two sons. The eldest, William (1737-1805), was born under his father’s original surname of Fitzmaurice but changed his name to Petty when his father changed his name. He rose to the position of Prime Minister of England.
William Petty (1737-1805) 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Shelburne, Prime Minister, after Sir Joshua Reynolds based on a work of 1766, National Portrait Gallery of London ref. 43.
William was called Viscount FitzMaurice between 1753 and 1761. He served in the British army and then had an illustrious political career. He held the office of First Lord of Trade April-December 1763 and like his forebears, served as a Privy Counsellor. He held the office of “Secretary of State for the South” between July 1766 and October 1768, and was Foreign Secretary March-July 1782 and was made Knight, Order of the Garter.
He held the office of Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury between 13 July 1782 and 5 April 1783. He was nominated Prime Minister in 1782 after the death of the Marquess of Rockingham, under whom he had been Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He was created 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, County Somerset [Great Britain] on 6 December 1784.
The Shelbourne hotel in Dubiln is named after him.
First William Petty married Sophia Carteret, daughter of John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville of England. Their son John Henry Petty (1765-1809), succeeded as 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne. He married but had no children.
John Henry Petty (1765-1809) 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne National Portrait Gallery of London ref. D37171.
After his wife Sophia died in 1771, William married Louisa Fitzpatrick (1755-1789) in 1779, daughter of John Fitzpatrick, 1st Earl of Upper Ossory. Their son Henry (1778-1863) succeeded his brother as 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne in 1809.
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (1780-1863) 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, by Henry Walton circa 1805 courtesy of National Portrait Gallery of London, NPG 178
In 1808 Henry (afterwards 3rd Marquess Lansdowne) married Louisa Emma Fox-Strangways (1785-1851), daughter of Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester. She held the office of Lady of the Bedchamber for Queen Victoria between August 1837 and September 1838.
In 1818 Henry changed his surname from Petty to Petty-Fitzmaurice, when he succeeded as 4th Earl of Kerry, after the death of Francis Thomas Fitzmaurice, 3rd Earl of Kerry (the one who had married “elderly” Anastasia). Henry followed in the footsteps of his forebears as MP and Privy Counsellor, and he also served as a Cabinet Minister and was appointed Knight, Order of the Garter in 1836.
Henry and Louisa had several children. Their daughter Louisa (d. 1906) married James Kenneth Howard, son of the 16th Earl of Suffolk. Henry 3rd Marquess’s oldest son, William Thomas Petty-FitzMaurice, who was called Earl of Kerry from 1818, predeceased him. William Thomas had married Augusta Lavinia Priscilla Ponsonby, daughter of John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, and they had a daughter Mary Caroline Louisa Thomas Petty-FitzMaurice who married the son of the 2nd Earl of Powis. After the young Earl of Kerry died in 1836 at the age of just 25, his widow remarried, this time to Charles Alexander Gore (1811-1897).
It was therefore the next son of Henry and Louisa, Henry (1816-1866) who became the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne. The youngest son, Bentinck Yelverton Petty-FitzMaurice, died in 1892.
Henry (1816-1866) was styled as Earl of Shelburne from August 1836 until January 1863 when his father died. He was a Liberal MP for Calne in England between 1837 and 1856, and held the office of Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs between 1856 and 1858. He was appointed Knight, Order of the Garter in 1864.
The Landed Estates database tells us that before the Petty-Fitzmaurices built the house, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation the property was leased from the Lansdowne estate by Peter McSweeney. Griffith’s Valuation was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland and details of property with valuations were published between 1847 and 1864.
The Landed Estates database adds that Derreen House was originally built by a branch of the O’Sullivans, from whom the lease passed to Peter McSweeney, who was married to a member of the O’Sullivan family.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that Henry Thomas Petty-Fitzmaurice 4th Marquess enlarged the house at Derreen between 1863 and 1866. [4] The National Inventory tells us that the version of the house built c. 1865 was designed by James Franklin Fuller. [5]
Henry the 4th Marquess married Georgina Herbert (1817-1841), daughter of General George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke in 1840, but she died the following year. He then married the grandly named Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de Flahault (1819-1895), daughter of French army genearl Auguste Charles Joseph de Flahault, Comte de Flahault de la Billardrie and of Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, 2nd Baroness Keith and 7th Lady Nairne (a Scottish barony). They married in 1843 at the British Embassy in Vienna. Emily Jane succeeded her mother as 8th Lady Nairne in 1874.
Henry and Emily Jane had several children. Their daughter Emily Louisa Anne married Everard Charles Digby (1852-1915), son of 9th Baron Digby of Dorset.
Henry’s son Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845-1927) succeeded as the 5th Marquess when his father died in 1866. A younger son, Edmond George Petty Petty-FitzMaurice, was created 1st (and last) Baron FitzMaurice ofLeigh, Co. Wiltshire, England in 1906 and also played a role in Foreign Affairs of state.
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845-1927) married Maud Evelyn Hamilton (1850-1932), daughter of James Hamilton (1811-1885), 1st Duke of Abercorn and Louisa Jane née Russell. Henry Charles Keither was styled as Earl Clanmaurice between 1845 and 1863 and Earl of Kerry between 1863 and 1866, and in 1866 he succeeded to the many other titles passed down through his family.
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice.
The 5th Marquess held the office of Lord of the Treasury between 1868 and 1872 and Under-Secretary for War between 1872 and 1874. He was Under-Secretary for India between April and July 1880, Governor-General of Canada between 1883 and 1888, and Viceroy of India between 1888 and 1893. He held the office of Secretary of State for War between 1895 and 1900. He succeeded as the 9th Lord Nairne in 1895 when his mother died. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire between 1896 and 1920, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1900 and 1905.
The 5th Marquess’s wife held the office of Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandria between 1905 and 1909 and “Extra” Lady of the Bedchamber between 1910 and 1925.
The Marquesses of Lansdowne made Derreen their summer residence. The garden was originally planted by the 5th Marquess. The website tells us that in 1870 Lord Lansdowne began an ambitious project to transform the countryside around the house from bare rock and scrub oak into a luxurious woodland garden. He planted 400 acres of woodland to shelter a collection of shrubs and specimen trees which were then being brought back from plant hunting expeditions in the Himalayas and elsewhere.
Robert O’Byrne quotes from Extracts from Glanerought and the Petty-FitzMaurices by the sixth Marquis of Lansdowne (1937):
‘The year 1903 was made memorable at Derreen by a visit from King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Their Majesties made in that summer a tour of Ireland, partly in the Royal Yacht and partly overland. The original intention had been that they should come to Derreen by water from County Clare, but weather conditions made this inadvisable, and the journey was eventually made by motor-car. They arrived on the afternoon of July 31. A Union Jack had been floated on the top of Knockatee and a triumphal arch was erected outside the Derryconnery Gate, where an address of welcome was presented by the assembled tenantry. On the lawn in front of the house the children of Lauragh school had been marshalled and they presented a bouquet to the Queen. Then there was a walk around the gardens where two commemorative bamboos were duly planted in the glade now called “the King’s Oozy”. After tea in the new dining room, which had been added to the house that year, the party went down to the pier, where Queen Alexandra was initiated into the mysteries of prawn fishing. The ground had been lavishly baited in advance and the fishing was such a success, that in spite of the obvious impatience of His Majesty, she could scarcely be persuaded to relinquish her net when the hour came for departure.’
Robert O’Byrne tells us that during the 5th Marquess’s absence in India (1888-1893), Derreen was let to the Duke of Leeds. [6]
The house at Derreen was burnt and plundered in 1922 and rebuilt by 5th Marquess in a similar style 1924; it underwent further reconstruction, having been attacked by dry-rot, 1925-26.
The 5th Marquess and his wife Maud Evelyn had several children. Their daughter Evelyn Emily Mary Petty-FitzMaurice (1870-1960) married Victor Christian William Cavendish (1868-1938) 9th Duke of Devonshire.
Their younger daughter Beatrix Frances Petty-FitzMaurice (1877-1953) married first Henry de la Poer Beresford (1875-1911) 6th Marquess of Waterford of Curraghmore (see my entry about Curraghmore). He died at the young age of 36, and after having six children with her first husband, Beatrix married Osbourne de Vere Beauclerk, 12th Duke of Saint Albans.
Beatrix Frances Duchess of St Albans [(1877-1953), Daughter of 5th Marquess of Lansdowne; former wife of 6th Marquess of Waterford, and later wife of 12th Duke of St Albans], Maud Evelyn Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne [mother of Beatrix, née Hamilton], Theresa Susey Helen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry and Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire [(1870-1960), sister of Beatrix] by Frederick & Richard Speaight, National Portrait Gallery of London ref. x76669
Their younger son, Charles George Francis (1874-1914) added Mercer Nairne to his surname in 1914 to become the mouthful “Mercer Nairne Petty-FitzMaurice.” His wife’s surname was equally impressive, as he married Violet Mary Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, daughter of the Earl of Minto, County Roxborough in England.
The elder son, Henry William Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice (1872-1936), became 6th Marquess of Lansdowne. He married Elizabeth Caroline Hope, whose mother was Constance Christina Leslie, daughter of John Leslie, 1st Baronet of Glaslough, County Monaghan, of Castle Leslie, another Section 482 property (see my entry).
Mark Bence-Jones describes the property in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“Derreen is famous for its garden, which extends over the greater part of the peninsula on which the house is built. It was originally planted by 5th Marquess; but the collection of trees and shrubs has been constantly added to by his successors. In the moist and mild climate, tender and exotic species flourish; while the older trees have grown to an incredible height and girth. The garden is particularly noted for its rhododendrons and tree ferns. As a foil to the luxuriant plantings, there are great natural outcrops of rock. After WWII, Derreen passed to Lady Nairne, now Viscountess Mersey, sister of 7th Marquess, who was killed in action 1944. It is now the property of her son, Honourable David Bigham; the garden is open to the public.” [see 4]
The 6th Marquess’s sons all died young, tragically, so the estate passed to their sister, Katherine Evelyn Constance Petty-FitzMaurice (1912-1995), who succeeded as the 12th Lady Nairne in 1944. She married Edward Clive Bigham, later 3rd Viscount Mersey, in 1933. They have several children.
There is a chapter about the family in Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe’s Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (Mercier Press, Cork, 2013).
[2] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VII, page 213.
[4] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Ballyseede castle (pronounced Ballyseedy) is now a hotel, and Stephen and I treated ourselves to a stay in March 2023. The house was built in around 1760 for the Blennerhassett family, and parts were added and gothicized over time. Gothic revival additions may have been designed by William and Richard Morrison. Later renovations were carried out by James Franklin Fuller.
The castle is now one of four owned by the Corscadden family. We have visited the other properties: Cabra Castle in County Cavan and Markree in County Sligo, both of which are also section 482 properties (see my entries). We also visited the fourth, Castle Bellingham in County Louth, kindly welcomed by Patrick, who showed us around and I told him of my website. I am in the process of writing about that in my “Places to visit and stay in County Louth” page, still a work in progress.
“Take a step back in time with a hotel steeped in history that offers luxurious surroundings within 30 acres of private gardens and woodland.
“The Doric columns that lead to an elegant oak staircase in the lobby are indicative of the grand decoration throughout the hotel. Impressive drawing rooms with ornate cornices, adorned with marble fireplaces provide an ideal setting for afternoon tea or morning coffee.
“Elegant accommodation, fine dining with traditional Irish cuisine, rooms that tell a story and the picturesque natural setting, will all comprise to make your stay at Ballyseede Castle an unforgettable one.”
The Landed Estates database tells us that the Blennerhassett family was originally from Cumbria in the north of England. Robert Blennerhassett was the first to settle in Kerry. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Jenkin Conway of Castle Conway, Killorglin, County Kerry, formerly known as Killorglin Castle (now a ruin). He was originally from Pembrokeshire in Wales.
Between 1611 and 1618 Robert acquired lands in Ireland. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Tralee in 1613 and between 1635 and 1639. He lived in an old castle named Ballycarty Castle and also owned the old Ballyseedy Castle. The current Ballyseede Castle is different from the original Ballyseedy Castle, a castle that had belonged to the Fitzgeralds, located at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood.
The Landed Estates database tells us that a John Blennerhassett was granted an estate of 2,787 acres in the barony of Trughanacmy, County Kerry (where Ballyseede Castle and Ballyseedy woods are located) and 2,039 acres in the barony of Fermoy, County Cork under the Acts of Settlement in 1666. [1] This John is probably son of Robert.
Lady Blennerhassett (I’m not sure which one), Ballyseedy Castle, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Irish school 18th century, Adams auction 19 Oct 2021
John Blennerhassett, son of Robert and Elizabeth, was, following his father’s footsteps, MP for Tralee [2]. He too lived in Ballycarty Castle, now a ruin. He married Martha Lynn, daughter of George from Southwick Hall, Northamptonshire, England. They had several children and he died in 1676.
His younger brothers Edward and Arthur married and lived nearby.
John and Martha’s son John was also MP for Tralee and high sheriff, but died only a year after his father, in 1677. He had married Elizabeth Denny in 1654, whose family lived in Tralee Castle (it no longer exists). She was the daughter of Edward Denny (1605-1646) who was also an MP and High Sheriff for County Kerry. [see 2] The Denny and Blennerhassett families intermarried over generations.
Edward Denny (1547-1600), who was granted land in Tralee County Kerry after the Desmond Rebellions photograph courtesy of the Roaringwaterjournal website.
In her Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (2013) Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe tells us about the grandfather of Edward Denny (1605-1646), Edward Denny (1547-1599/1600), who moved to Kerry:
“Following the Desmond rebellions of 1569-73 and 1579-83, Sir Edward Denny of Waltham Abbey, Herefordshire, who was born in 1547, was granted 6,000 acres of land around Tralee, County Kerry. The ruined thirteenth century Tralee Castle, formerly a Desmond property, was included in the grant. Sir Edward Denny was a relative of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also granted 42,000 acres in Cork and Waterford at this time.” [3]
John Blennserhassett and Martha had other children beside John who died in 1677. Their son Robert also held the office of MP for Tralee and High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1682. He married Avice Conway (d. 1663), a daughter of Edward Conway of Castle Conway, County Kerry. Their son John (d. circa 1738) inherited Castle Conway from his mother.
John (d. 1677) and Elizabeth née Denny’s son John (d. 1709) was MP for Tralee, Dingle and County Kerry at various times. He married Margaret Crosbie (1670-1759) of Tubrid, County Kerry (Tubrid House no longer exists, and should not be confused with Tubbrid Castle in County Kilkenny). Her father Patrick held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1660.
Margaret née Crosbie and John Blennerhassett had several children. After John’s death in 1709 Margaret married David John Barry in the same year, son of Richard Barry (1630-1694) 2nd Earl of Barrymore but they had no children together.
Margaret and John’s heir was Colonel John (1691-1775), who was called “Great Colonel John” thanks to his hospitality. He followed in his forebears’ footsteps, becoming an MP. In 1727 he signed a family compact with Maurice Crosbie of Ardfert and Arthur Denny of Tralee, partitioning the county representation among the three families [see 2].
Colonel John married Jane Denny, daughter of Colonel Edward Denny (1652-1709) of Tralee Castle.
A website about the Blennerhassett family tells us that in 1721 the first “Ballyseedy House” was built among ruins of the Geraldine Ballyseedy Castle at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood. Colonel John lived here with his family. [4]
It was Margaret and John Blennerhassett’s younger son William (1705-1785) who built the house which has become the hotel Ballyseede Castle. It was built around 1780 (the National Inventory says c. 1760) and named “Elm Grove.” [4] William died during its construction and the work was completed around 1788 by his son William Blennerhassett Jr. (c. 1735-1797).
We will return to William and his family later. First, let’s look at the older son Colonel John and his offspring.
Colonel John’s son John Blennerhassett (1715-1763) would have succeeded his father and lived in the original Ballyseedy House, if he had not predeceased him in 1763. This John was admitted to the Middle Temple in London to train for the legal profession, and he also held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry, in 1740, and M.P. for County Kerry between 1751 and 1760. He married Anne Crosbie, daughter of William Crosbie of Tubrid, County Kerry, who was MP for Ardfert between 1713 and 1743. Her mother was Isabella Smyth from Ballynatray, County Waterford, another Section 482 property – gardens only – that I’ll be writing about soon. Anne Crosbie had been previously married to John Leslie of Tarbert, County Kerry (another section 482 property which I hope to visit soon), but he died in 1736.
Anne died and John Blennerhassett remarried in 1753, this time wedding Frances Herbert, daughter of Edward Herbert (1693-1770) of Muckross, County Kerry. For more on Muckross House, see my entry on places to visit and stay in County Kerry.
Muckross House Killarney Co. Kerry, photograph by Chris Hill 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool.
Neither of John’s sons married and one died young. His house, Ballyseedy House, fell into disuse.
John’s daughter Frances married Reverend Jemmett Browne (d. 1797) of Riverstown, County Cork, another Section 482 property (see my entry).
Colonel John and Jane née Denny had a younger son, Arthur (1719-1799), who served as MP for Tralee between 1743 and 1760. He married Jane Giradot and had two daughters but no sons. His daughter Jane married George Allanson-Winn, 1st Lord Headley, Baron Allanson and Winn of Aghadoe, County Kerry. She was heiress of her father’s unentailed Ballyseedy estates – this would have been land that did not include what is now Ballyseede Castle. She died in 1825.
Colonel John and Jane née Denny also had several daughters. Agnes, born in 1722, married neighbour Thomas Denny (d. 1761) of Tralee Castle, son of Colonel Edward Denny (1728). Another daughter, Arabella (1725-1795), married Richard Ponsonby of Crotto, County Kerry (now demolished), MP for Kinsale, County Kerry, and then secondly Colonel Arthur Blennerhassett (1731-1810), a grandson of John who died in 1709 and Margaret née Crosbie. A third daughter of Jane and John Blennerhassett, Mary, married Lancelot Crosbie, who lived at Tubrid, County Kerry. Lancelot was MP for County Kerry between 1759 and 1760 and for Ardfert in County Kerry between 1762 and 1768 [see 2].
Let us return now to Elm Grove, now called Ballyseede castle. It is an eleven-bay three-storey over part-raised basement house, comprising a three-bay entrance bay to the centre with door opening approached by flight of steps, and a pair of three-bay full-height flanking bow bay windows and single-bay end bays. It has five-bay side elevations with three-bay full-height bow bay window to south elevation and eight-bay west elevation with two-bay breakfront. [5]
William Blennerhassett Senior (1705-1785), son of John Blennerhassett (d. 1709) of Ballyseedy and Margaret Crosbie married Mary, daughter of John Morley, Mayor of Cork. Their son William (c.1735-1797) inherited Elm Grove.
Their daughter Agnes, born in 1740, married William Godfrey (c. 1738-1817) 1st Baronet of Bushfield, County Kerry, later called Kilcolman Abbey (renovated by William Vitruvius Morrison in 1818, demolished in 1977).
William (c.1735-1797) held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1761 and was the Collector of Customs at Tralee, which could have been a lucrative post.
William married Catherine daughter of the interestingly named Noble Johnson of County Cork. William and Catherine’s son Arthur (1779-1815) lived in Elm Grove with his wife Dorcas (1775/7-1822) daughter of George Twiss from Cordell House, County Kerry. Arthur died in 1815, but it seems that before he died he began plans to renovate the house. As was the case with his father and grandfather, Arthur’s son, another Arthur (1800-1843), continued the renovations.
William and Catherine’s daughter Catherine (b. 1777) married Colonel John Gustavus Crosbie (d. 1797), a son of Lancelot Crosbie and Mary née Blennerhassett. He was M.P. for County Kerry between 1795 and 1797. In 1794 he killed Barry Denny, 2nd Bt. in an election duel at Oak Park (now Collis-Sandes House) and was subsequently poisoned, it is said, by the Denny family, which resulted in him falling from his horse as he was riding home from Churchill to his home in Tubrid. Catherine then married George Rowan of Rathanny, County Kerry (a beautiful Georgian house, still occupied). Rowan ordered the militia to fire into the crowd at an election rally killing five people. He was tried for murder but not convicted. [6]
Another daughter, Mary, married another cousin, Captain Nevinson Blennerhassett de Courcy (1789-1845). He was the son of Anne Blennerhassett of the Castle Conway branch of the family.
A younger son of William and Catherine née Johnson, John (circa 1769-1794), served as MP for Kerry between 1790 and 1794. He died unmarried.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us that the Gothic Revival renovation dates from 1816 and may be designed by Richard Morrison (1767– 1849). [7] The work was completed in 1821, and the house renamed “Ballyseedy House” because the original old “Ballyseedy” of Colonel John Blennerhassett at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood had by then fallen into disrepair and disuse.
The house was extended, adding a seven-bay two-storey wing to the north. This wing has a pair of single-bay three-storey turrets to the east elevation. These turrets have battlemented roof parapets and pinnacles. The ten-bay rear elevation to the west has hood mouldings to the openings and a single-bay three-storey corner turret on a circular plan to north-west. [see 5]
The Blennerhassett site tells us: “It was William Blennerhassett Jr’s son Arthur (1779-1815) and his wife Dorcas Twiss (1775/7-1822) who commenced addition of the long north wing, something of a “folly” with the stable yard surrounded by a great wall of false windows, with two carriage entrances and a round tower of medieval appearance at the north-west corner.The work of architect Sir William Morrison [From 1809 onward Richard Morrison collaborated increasingly with his second son, William Vitruvius Morrison (1794–1838)], this remodelling was completed in 1821, exactly 100 years after the older “Ballyseedy House” house had been built, by his son Arthur Blennerhassett (b. 1799 d.1843) then only 22 years of age.” [8]
Mark Bence-Jones describes: “At one side of the front is a long and low castellated service wing, with round and square turrets, the other side of which has a sham wall, consisting of a long range of false windows.”
I couldn’t work out where this sham wall of false windows was – perhaps later renovations changed this folly.
At the time of renovations, the son of Arthur and Dorcas, Arthur (1800-1843), was High Sheriff for County Kerry.
The Blennerhassett website tells us:
“In the north wing is a “Banqueting Hall” which features a foundation stone dated 1721, set into the wall over primitive 17th century black oak fireplace surround.“
The Blennerhassett website tells us thatanother 17th century wooden fireplace surround of finer workmanship was installed in what was the library of the main house (now the hotel bar). The two fireplaces are believed to have been moved with other free-standing oak furniture from “Old” Ballyseedy” as it fell into ruin.
Arthur Jr. (1800-1843) married Frances Deane O’Grady (1800-1834), daughter of Henry Deane O’Grady (1765-1847). This would have been a prestigious marriage. Her sisters married, respectively, Edward Chichester, 4th Marquess of Donegal (Amelia); David Roche (1791-1865), 1st Baronet of Carass, Co. Limerick (Cecilia); John Skeffington (1812-1863), 10th Viscount Massereene (Olivia); and Matthew Fitzmaurice Deane (1795-1868), 3rd Baron Muskerry (Louisa). Thus Arthur would have been very well connected. He served as M.P. for County Kerry between 1837 and 1841.
It must have been during this Arthur’s time in the 1830s that Ballyseede was leased to Edward Denny (1796-1889), 4th Baronet.
Edward Denny (1796-1889) 4th Bt , Poet and hymn writer, by Camille Silvy, 1862, National Portrait Gallery of London, Ax57667.
In Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (2013) Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe tells us:
p. 160. “Several generations of the Denny family occupied the ancient castle in Tralee. They ran the estate through both peaceful and turbulent times until 1826, when Sir Edward Denny, 3rd Baronet [1773-1831, of Castle Moyle, Co. Kerry], decided to demolish the castle. Tom Denny ruefully remarks, “The demolition of Tralee Castle by Sir Edward Denny was a crime, and much resented in Tralee at that time. People felt angry that part of the town’s history was being destroyed. Sir Edward was really quite a muddled character. As a younger man, when he inherited the estate, he promptly set about enlarging the castle, something which is powerful father-in-law Judge Day found very irritating, and which created enormous problems for Sir Edward’s finances. He subsequently went to live in Worcester. He remained fascinated by genealogy and artefacts from the family’s past and continued to acquire Tudor portraits long after he had pulled down the Tudor remains of the Denny house.
“In the 1830s the Worcestershire Dennys came back to Tralee, and Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet, rented Ballyseedy Castle outside the town for a number of years. His younger brother William [1811-1871] became his agent, and he lived at Princes Quay in Tralee in a house when the Dominican church now stands. Sir Edward Denny planned to rebuild the [Tralee] castle, and he replanted the park and also built lodges on the estate. His plans came to an end in 1840 when he joined the conservative Plymouth Brethren movement and he lived thereafter in poverty in London, leaving the management of the estate to his family.
“The indebted Denny estate in Tralee was run by members of the family, or their agents, until 1892, when it was taken over by an insurance company; this severed a family link to the area which had remained strong for over 300 years.
“The Denny estates at one time, stretched to around 29,000 acres, extending from Fenit to Tralee and around the other side of the bay to Derrymore,” explains Tom Denny. “Sir Arthur Denny, 5th Baronet (1838-1921), was a notorious gambler who managed to lose the entire estate by around 1892.”
Arthur Blennerhassett died in 1843 when his son, Charles John Allanson Winn Blennerhassett (1830-1859) was only thirteen years old. By this time, Ballyseedy was probably back in the hands of the Blennerhassetts. Charles’s mother has died when he was only four. I am not sure who raised him. A few of his uncles still lived in County Kerry: His uncle Thomas (1806-1878) remained unmarried and lived in Kerry, and uncle Lt.-Col. Francis Barry Blennerhassett (1815-1877) lived in Blennerville, County Kerry, also unmarried.
Charles John Allanson Winn married Marianne Hickson of Dingle, County Kerry, in 1855. He held the office of High Sheriff in 1858 and was a Justice of the Peace. He died at the young age of 29 and his wife remarried, this time to Captain William Walker. Before Charles died, his wife had two children: Barbara, who died at the age of ten, and Arthur (1856-1939). Young Arthur was only three years old when his father died. He was sent away to school in Harrow in England.
Charles John Allanson Winn Blennerhassett (1830-1859) had several siblings. His sister Adelaide married Standish O’Grady (1832-1860) 3rd Viscount Guillamore, County Limerick. His sister Dorcas married Robert Conway Hurly of Glenduffe, County Kerry. His sister Amelia married Chichester Thomas Skeffington, son of Thomas Henry Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Ferrard, County Louth. Frances Annabella married John Richard Wolseley, 6th Bt of Mount Wolseley, County Carlow. His only brother, Henry Deane, died unmarried in 1850.
Young Arthur Blennerhassett (1856-1939) was the owner of 12,621 acres in 1876 [see 2]. He held the office of High Sheriff in 1878. In 1882 he married Clara Nesta Richarda FitzGerald, daughter of Desmond John Edmund FitzGerald, 26th Knight of Glin.
The house was further remodelled during the 1880s for the Blennerhassett family by James Franklin Fuller (1835–1924), after which it was then known as “Ballyseedy Castle.” Fuller added a battlemented parapet, hood mouldings and other mildly baronial touches. The three-bay single-storey flat-roofed limestone ashlar projecting porch was added to the entrance bay. The Blennerhassett website tells us that the back of the castle became the front at this time.
Older pictures of Ballyseedy. It looks like this could be the original front of the castle.It is identified on the Blennerhassett family website as Ballyseedy c.1837-1841 and their version is titled “The Seat of Arthur Blennerhassett Esq MP, Co Kerry.”
The Blennerhassett family website [8] tells us more about the history:
“During the 1880s Arthur’s grandson, Maj. Arthur Blennerhassett (b.1856 d.1939), commissioned a “mock castle” refacing of the house, as was popular during the late Victorian period, these changes causing what had previously been the front elevation and west facing main entrance to become the rear of the house. This work, executed by Kerry architect, historian and Blennerhassett descendant James Franklin Fuller, caused the house to lose its Georgian elegance and simplicity but resulted in the more impressive building we see today. Following these changes the house began to be referred to as “Ballyseedy Castle” and is named as such on the family headed writing paper of the time.” [8]
Unfortunately not having read this fully in advance of our visit, I didn’t take a proper picture of the back of the hotel, not knowing that it had originally been the front!
Out the back there is a lovely garden with statues, small hedges, trees and a gazebo perfect for wedding photographs. Unfortunately it rained during most of our visit, so we didn’t get to explore much outside.
Arthur served as Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. He fought in the first World War and gained the rank of Major in the 4th Battalion, Munster Fusiliers. In 1918, both he and Clara Nesta (known as Nesta) were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) for their services: Nesta because during WWI she and her younger daughters Hilda and Vera served as Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses caring for the wounded, first behind the battlefields of France, and later on Lord Dunraven’s hospital ship “Grianaig” in the Mediterranean.
Arthur and Nesta had three daughters. Hilda and Vera lived at Ballyseedy. Hilda bequeathed the estate in 1965 to her kinsman Sir (Marmaduke) Adrian Francis William Blennerhassett, 7th Bt of Blennerville, County Kerry, who sold it 1967. [see 5] This branch of Blennerhassetts are descendants of Robert Blennerhassett of Ballycarty Castle and his wife Elizabeth Conway also, from their grandson Robert, younger brother of John from whom the Ballyseedy Blennerhassetts descended.
The Blennerhassett website has a copy of the auction of the contents of the house, held by Hamilton and Hamilton in 1967.
[2] Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke’s Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
List of M.P.s for County Kerry:
1692: Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle; Thomas Fitzmaurice (1668-1741) 1st Earl of Kerry
1697: Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle; William Sandes
1703: Edward Denny (d. 1727/8, son of Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle); John Blennerhassett (d. 1709)
1709: Edward Denny (1676–1727/8); John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1715: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon, of Ardfert, County Kerry
1727: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; Arthur Denny (1704-1742), son of Edward Denny (1676–1727/8)
1743: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; John Petty-Fitzmaurice (1706-1761) 1st Earl of Shelburne, son of Thomas Fitzmaurice (1668-1741) 1st Earl of Kerry
1751: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; John Blennerhassett (1715-1763), son of John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1759: John Blennerhassett (1715-1753); Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1761: William Petty-Fitzmaurice (1737-1805) 1st Marquess of Lansdowne; Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1762: John Blennerhassett (1715-1763)
1763: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Thomas Fitzmaurice
1768: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794), 1st Baronet
1775: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794), 1st Baronet; Arthur Blennerhassett (1719-1799) son of John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1776: Arthur Blennerhassett (1719-1799); Rowland Bateman (c. 1737-1803)
1783: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794) 1st Bt; Richard Townsend Herbert (1755-1832)
1790: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794) 1st Bt; John Blennerhassett (1769-1794)
1794: Barry Denny (d. 1794 in in dual with John Gustavus Crosbie) 2nd Bt; John Gustavus Crosbie (c. 1749-1797) son of Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1795: Maurice Fitzgerald (1774-1849) 18th Knight of Kerry; John Gustavus Crosbie (c. 1749-1797)
1798: Maurice Fitzgerald (1774-1849) 18th Knight of Kerry; James Crosbie (c. 1760-1836)
[3] p. 157. O’Hea O’Keeffe, Jane. Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry. Mercier Press, Cork, 2013.
Irish Historic Houses 